Mediphany
Demystifying Radiology Reports

Undergoing a radiology test can be a stressful experience for many patients. The test itself is physically uncomfortable; dealing with the results can be even more anxiety provoking. Radiology reports have historically been geared toward communication directly between the radiologist and the referring physician, relying on shared medical terminology to communicate results.

The recent 21st Century Cures Act sought to provide patients with rapid access to their medical results and this has led to patients seeing jargon-filled radiology results before they have follow-up appointments with their doctor. The results are often confusing to patients and can lead to anxiety when the patients don’t understand what it means. Even follow up appointments may not lower their stress since most doctors are not trained in imaging interpretation and often do not actually explain all of the patient findings to them.

Dr. Josh Polster and Dr. Evan Mason are radiologists who saw this confusion as part of their experience performing procedures on patients who had tumors diagnosed on radiology studies. Patients would come in having never been shown their imaging abnormality and were confused about why they were having a procedure. It was only once the doctors showed and explained the imaging findings that the patients felt comfortable. This insight led to their desire to create a new type of radiology report, one that could help patients understand their imaging findings at a level they had never experienced before.

Their solution was to create video radiology reports in which an imaging specialist points out and explains the findings both visually and with everyday language while using other tools like comparison studies, 3D models and medical illustrations to help maximize patients’ understanding. They created a company called Mediphany (Medical + Epiphany) and developed software to enable imaging specialists to efficiently create this new type of radiology report for doctors and hospitals so they could provide this unique experience for their patients.

The video reports are stored securely on Mediphany’s online platform and can be viewed by patients and their doctors and are easily shared with family members or referring doctors involved in the patients care.

“ Mediphany helps practices offer their patients this unparalleled experience of deeply understanding their radiology results which in turn helps the practices stand out from their competition,” says Dr. Polster, CEO of Mediphany.

Physicians, partnered with Mediphany, have found their patients are better able to understand their care and make better healthcare decisions. The physicians themselves even have a clearer understanding of the imaging results and are able to spend less time trying to explain them to the patient which gives them more time to discuss diagnosis and treatment plans. This leads to an overall superior patient experience.

Patient surveys at one imaging center showed that 83 percent of patients that purchased Mediphany would be very likely to buy another video report in the future and a survey of patients coming to Mediphany through their website indicated that they would overwhelmingly prefer going to imaging centers that offer video reports over those that do not.

Mediphany is committed to becoming the foremost expert in radiology assistance and education for healthcare providers and their patients and their cutting-edge video reports are the first step in achieving that goal.